(Again I'm shopping for a 650b in the near future and I agree it is great for enduro)

It makes intuitive sense that the tweener wheel would be great for Enduro, but it's the rider not the bike. Which is one reason the 26'ers beat you. Then again, I suspect 90% of bikes entered were 26". Not too many trail and AM 29'rs, 650b or 69'rs around - yet

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Old enough to know better. And old enough not to care. Best age to be.

More than one person has called me up and said "build me a Jamis Dragon" over the course of the last year.

Those things rule!

Yes indeed they do! First complete I've bought in nine years and I love it! In that span of time I've built up no less than nine different mountain bikes - ten, if you count the Surly CrossCheck I've taken out on the trail a handful of times. From jump bikes to 69ers, from short-travel XC rides to freeride fullys, they've all been a blast...but I've still thrown them all over for my Dragon 650b. With absolutely no regrets. It's all the mountain bike I can see myself ever needing.

He needs to try the bike with wider bars and a shorter stem to take the XC edge off a bit. He also failed to mention the Loop fork has 2 more internal travel adjustments of 140 and 150mm which is a pretty nice option to have IMO and would slacken up the front end nicely for a bit more AM comfort.

I left that info in the comments section for people to see.

And....he mentioned Jamis will have a new model at Interbike yet unmentioned. Hmmmm??

Review 2012 Dakar 650B Pro part 2

...and again as reported in his part 1 review Jamis is supposed to release a new bike at Interbike in a few days. Could be the 4" travel XC race bike some guys have been wishing for or maybe a 150-160mm B bike....or maybe nothing at all?

Love these bikes, quick question...

Hi Sal and other riders,

This is my first post and I have a question on these models compared to my riding style before I make the jump into one of these models. I started riding steady 2 yrs ago so I bought a trek 4300 (hardtail entry level) to make sure I was going to enjoy biking. Now I'm ready to upgrade. I know I want a 650b from jamis. I'm between the dragon, nemesis or dakar comp. I live in Pennsylvania and like to ride rather aggressive high intensity low volume (2hrs or less) rides that involve cross country, climbs, some rocks, downhill,,,,a bit of everything and I am stuck wondering if I should go full suspension or hardtail and if a hardtail which one. Was wondering if you guys could comment before I make this investment as I want to make the best choice. Not sure if weight is a concern for frame or suspension but I'm 6 ft tall and weigh 220. I want the 650 bc when I test rode a 650 next to a 29 , I like the quick response and handling of the 650 just don't know how they handle on the mtn

I convinced myself I "needed" the Dragon last year and after ordering it was concerned I would have buyers remorse after dropping almost 3k on an arguably portly hardtail I didn't really need while my full suspension was long in the tooth and was the bike I really needed to upgrade/replace.

The grin from my first ride hasn't left my face almost 9 months later. The only buyers remorse would have been if they had sliding dropouts on this years model. They didn't, and I like the shamrock green more than the purple so I'm more than happy to have been an early adopter.

Rich: If you are riding the 4300 capably on your trails you'll love the Dragon. Mine has seen it's share of rocks and chunk out here in Arizona - it's my every day, every trail bike. The full suspension comes out once in a blue moon....if that. If you are debating between the Nemesis and Dragon keep in mind the difference in frame material and the head angles. The Dragon is much more an "all mountain" bike than the Nemesis.

This is my first post and I have a question on these models compared to my riding style before I make the jump into one of these models. I started riding steady 2 yrs ago so I bought a trek 4300 (hardtail entry level) to make sure I was going to enjoy biking. Now I'm ready to upgrade. I know I want a 650b from jamis. I'm between the dragon, nemesis or dakar comp. I live in Pennsylvania and like to ride rather aggressive high intensity low volume (2hrs or less) rides that involve cross country, climbs, some rocks, downhill,,,,a bit of everything and I am stuck wondering if I should go full suspension or hardtail and if a hardtail which one. Was wondering if you guys could comment before I make this investment as I want to make the best choice. Not sure if weight is a concern for frame or suspension but I'm 6 ft tall and weigh 220. I want the 650 bc when I test rode a 650 next to a 29 , I like the quick response and handling of the 650 just don't know how they handle on the mtn

Thanks
Rich

I absolutely love hardtails and think that overall they are more fun than full suspension. But, if you can only have one bike, in my opinion it should be a FS. A FS bike can handle a much greater variety of trails because you can just adjust the rear suspension to be stiff for more XC oriented trails, or more plush for rougher trails. A hardtail really limits the type of terrain you can ride on, unless you have some great bike skills.

Dragon as a putt around town bike is a waste. I spent some time on this at Outdoor Demo and it is a very well balanced and excellent handling bike. Of course, not everyone is after a steel hardtail, but if that is in your general line of thinking, then this is an excellent bike. I've ridden steel hardtails for years - nice job Jamis gang on this one.

Scott

Originally Posted by fatcat

Cool bikes, yeah $2900 is a bit pricey for a HT, though its 853 and is outfitted with possibly
the best 650b fork in its class (I doubt White Bros gave Jamis much of a manufacture discount
for them as WB only has 3 guys making forks there in Grand Junction & they take turns answering phones and emails )

Super props to Jamis. Saving up for a Dragon frame to putt around town with.

The rider really limits the type of terrain you can ride on, unless you have some great bike skills.

There you go

So true. I regularly ride with some guys who use hard tails in just the ugliest rock and root infested terrain and I'm astounded how good they are, how fast they can ride and the crap they can climb. Puts me to shame on my 140mm full squish bike

....so what if I'm 10-20 years older than most of them, it's only my 4th year riding to their mega years and they're all on 29'r hartails

Okay so I have had 2 months to ride my 650 Dakar Pro and the bike is really nice. It does extremely well in the tight technical single track and on the small technical downhill's that we have here in Chicago it does extremely well. I can't wait to bring the bike to Colorado next year and see how it does.

So far my only complaint is the Fusion fork it doesn't want to hold air and it leaks oil. I will most likely replace the fork with the Rock Shock version.

1. Does the 2012 Nemesis have a 135mm rear or a 142mm ?
2. Does the 2012 Nemesis have 9mm QR on the front fork or a 15mm through ?
3. I agree with the earlier post - you should offer 2 price points on the Nemesis
I'm about to buy a close-out 2012 model but will be dumping most of the parts.